TRO and asset freeze against alleged perpetrators of nearly $450M Ponzi Scheme

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges and an asset freeze against several Las Vegas-area individuals and companies allegedly behind a nearly half-billion dollar Ponzi scheme involving purported personal injury settlements. The SEC charged certain defendants with violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, certain individual defendants with acting as unregistered brokers,...

Former Goldman Sachs Investment Banker Convicted in Massive Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme

Roger Ng Found Guilty of Conspiring to Violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Commit Money Laundering in Connection with 1MDB Scheme A former Managing Director of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (Goldman Sachs) was convicted last week by a federal jury in the Eastern District of New York for conspiring to commit bribery, to circumvent internal accounting controls, and...

SEC Proposes Rules for the Registration and Regulation of Security-Based Swap Execution Facilities

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed this week new Regulation SE under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) to create a regime for the registration and regulation of security-based swap execution facilities (SBSEFs). The new regulatory framework was one of the major reforms required under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection...

2019 court case against Hadari Oshri exposes her dodgy, aggressive legal maneuvers

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: On June 22, 2021, Hadari Oshri –Marc Lubaszka’s business partner– filed a frivolous civil harassment restraining order (CHRO) against Investor News reporter Aitana Vargas to stop the publication of her investigative series “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar crime,” and any subsequent installments or future media coverage. On August 3, 2021, Vargas filed an...

$90 Million Yacht of Sanctioned Russian Oligarch Viktor Vekselberg Seized by Spain at Request of US

Note: Footage of the seizure is available here. View the statement from the Attorney General on today's seizure here. Spanish law enforcement this week executed a Spanish court order freezing the Motor Yacht (M/Y) Tango (the Tango), a 255-foot luxury yacht owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Spanish authorities acted pursuant to a request from the U.S. Department of Justice for assistance...

SEC Proposes Rules to Include Certain Significant Market Participants as “Dealers” or “Government Securities Dealers”

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed proposed two rules that would require market participants, such as proprietary (or principal) trading firms, who assume certain dealer functions, in particular those who as act as liquidity providers in the markets, to register with the SEC, become members of a self-regulatory organization (SRO), and comply with federal securities...

SEC Proposes Rules to Enhance Disclosure and Investor Protection Relating to Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, Shell Companies, and Projections

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed new rules and amendments to enhance disclosure and investor protection in initial public offerings by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and in business combination transactions involving shell companies, such as SPACs, and private operating companies. "Nearly 90 years ago, Congress addressed certain policy issues around companies raising money from the...

Tech Company Employees, Family and Friends Charged in $1M Scheme in California

SEC Charges Seven California Residents in Insider Trading Ring Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced insider trading charges against three software engineers employed at Twilio, Inc., a San Francisco-based cloud computing communications company, and four family members and friends for allegedly generating more than $1 million in collective profits by insider trading ahead of the company’s...

FBI crime report released: Victims lost $6.9b to internet-enabled scams in 2021

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has released its annual report. The 2021 Internet Crime Report (pdf) includes information from 847,376 complaints of suspected internet crime—a 7% increase from 2020—and reported losses exceeding $6.9 billion. State-specific statistics have also been released and can be found within the 2021 Internet Crime Report and in the accompanying 2021 State Reports. The top three cyber crimes reported by...

SEC Proposes Rules to Enhance and Standardize Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors

Washington D.C., March 21, 2022 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rule changes that would require registrants to include certain climate-related disclosures in their registration statements and periodic reports, including information about climate-related risks that are reasonably likely to have a material impact on their business, results of operations, or financial condition, and certain climate-related financial statement metrics...